Lemon & Te Aroha or L&T is a lemon-flavoured soft drink from New Zealand. It is made using a natural soda water geyser in Te Aroha, which is the only natural soda water geyser in the world. Lemon & Te Aroha first came out in 1888, was discontinued in the 1970s, and started production again in 2022.
Te Aroha is in the Waikato, which is the same region the drink with the similar name, Lemon & Paeroa (L&P), originated from.
History
Lemon & Te Aroha first came out in 1888, which is 19 years before the similarly named Lemon & Paeroa drink. Thousands of people would visit the Te Aroha spring for the water, which was believed to have curative properties. This included claims that the water could cure illnesses of the stomach, intestines, bladder disorders, nasal issues and gout. The drink once has had various names including Te Aroha Steam Mineral Water, Te Aroha Natural Mineral Water, and Te Aroha Soda & Mineral Water. Eventually, the name Te Aroha and Lemon stuck. After the brand had been sold many times, it eventually came into ownership of Menzies & Co. In 1972 Lemon & Te Aroha was bought by Oasis Industries alongside Lemon & Paeroa. Oasis Industries stopped production shortly thereafter and allocated more of their resources toward Lemon & Paeroa. Reasons for this closure included competition from Lemon & Paeroa and Coca-Cola, and issues relating to the amount of spring water collected.
Revival
In 2022 the drink was brought back to business, 50 years after production ended. This version had new packaging. The revival took four years of planning and preparation, and was directed by Richard Revell. This was after he created the carbonated milk drink, mo2 in 2010. Someone approached Revell about buying the land which holds the spring. With nostalgia and childhood memories of drinking L&T, he decided to recreate the drink.
The new version of the drink is made naturally. Filtration systems is used to remove iron and manganese from the water without using chemicals.